Campus to Corporate – Mind-Set is Everything

Campus to corporate is the most exciting and phenomenal step in one’s life and that should be handled with utmost care. Transition is an on-going process in everyone’s life that takes place at different stages. This might be from the final years of school to the early years of higher education, occupational training, independent living or social opportunities. Also it can be from the final years of college/campus to the early years of one’s career. Transition from campus to career needs more attention as it involves a lot of planning. Planning for transition should take account of the personal goals and ambitions of the young person.

Getting Ready for Transition

Take time out before getting into an organization. It will help one to detach oneself from his college and become accustomed to the new culture. The amount of time spent at college is far lesser than the amount of time one spends in a corporate. Therefore, one must know how to manage one’s time efficiently. Initially, one must take efforts to know his employer and also the co-workers. It takes some time to achieve the task- understanding the people and climate of the organization. Till that time, he must be careful in his interactions as he is moving with different people with different temperaments.

Some Tips to succeed during the initial period of transition:

1. Punctuality is very mandatory. It is better to arrive at work on time. Strictly follow the rules and regulations of the corporate.

2. Listen, observe and give attention to every minor detail before jumping to any conclusions.

3. Stay away from internal politics and gossip. It is better to observe the happenings around us and not contribute to it.

4. Follow professional ethics by imparting values and manners. For instance, one’s friend’s room may be okay with him, but barging into the employer’s room is not acceptable. Use simple magic words like ‘Please’ and ‘Thank you’.

5. Be a learner always to learn what you need to know. Find a mentor to guide in the career path.

6. Always stick to deadlines. Complete the assignments before time so that one will have time to make changes if required.

7. Pay keen attention to corporate culture to learn how things work within the organizations.

Campus life and corporate life are fundamentally different. The domain expertise and knowledge acquired will be very essential to succeed in one’s career but the procedure to be successful in campus is very different from the procedure to be successful at work. If one continues to have same expectations from his employer as he/she had from the professors in the campus, one will be highly disappointed and damage the career success as the culture of education is so different from the organizational culture.